Trust is the backbone of any successful company. When it's shattered by toxic leadership, employees disengage, collaboration dies, and progress screeches to a halt. Fixing it requires more than just words, and power point presentations, it takes bold, consistent action by leaders from all levels.
First, though all the leaders need to acknowledge the damage without sugarcoating it to the employees. Employees need to hear leadership say, "We know trust has been fractured and we hear you. We feel your pain and here’s what we’re doing to fix it." Transparency is key. Host open forums, address past failures head-on, and validate employee experiences.
If favoritism was an issue, set clear policies for promotions and recognition. If unethical behavior was tolerated, enforce strict accountability. Make it clear: the old ways are gone. Real change starts when employees see leadership owning past mistakes and taking tangible steps to correct them. This won’t happen overnight though, it will take some time due to trust taking time to be rebuilt. Leaders can not just expect their employees to blindly accept an apology and think everything is going to be fine. Otherwise the leadership should be questioning their hiring practices
The next thing that needs to be implemented is to make listening a two-way street with visible results. Employees won’t re-engage if they feel unheard. Implement real-time feedback channels like anonymous surveys, town halls, and leadership Q&As. But don’t just collect input, act on it. That’s right sometimes a leader really has to be vulnerable enough to say please share and I promise there will be no retaliation. Let the employees speak candidly and have thick skin and use the phrase, “Tell me more.” One company recovering from toxic leadership held open listening sessions, then issued a monthly "You Spoke, We Acted" report showing concrete changes based on employee input.
If work-life balance is a top concern, roll out flexible schedules. Some examples could be used like one automotive company did where two employees on a team would alternate Friday’s off by working 10 hours a day 4 days a week on projects and back each other up. They did not need to use vacation days either.
Trust is earned by action, not empty promises. Show employees that their voices drive real improvements, and they’ll start believing in the organization again. It may be slow at first, but as trust starts to grow the momentum will gain speed. When trust goes up, speed goes up, which means costs go down and that is where profits start to take over again!
Master the Art of Influence: Build Trust, Drive Sales, and Lead Effectively
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